A Study on Foreign Banks‘ Short Borrowings and Volatilities of Stock Markets & FX Markets in Korea: Focus on aTe Derivatives

This study examines how FX OTC derivatives transactions of foreign banks’ branches funded by short term borrowings affect the volatility of stock markets and FX markets in Korea based on historical data. It founds that they use call money for FX-derivatives trading, rather than borrowings from their Head Quarter. This result also proves that their derivatives trading is funded by call market increasing stock markets’ volatility in Korea, even if foreign banks’ branches have been using various funding sources. Also the role of foreign banks’ branches as FX money supplier for the korean local banks effects to stock markets by increasing the volatility via call markets. On the other hands, derivatives liabilities of foreign banks’ branches tend to increase volatility of the korean stock markets, but their derivatives assets tend to decrease the volatility. This result together with O/N dollar call volatility should be regarded as a kind of liquidity risk because they could give serious impacts to Korean financial markets if shocks break out. When considering the main revenue source of foreign banks’ branches, derivatives trading creates much higher leverage effects to them than korean local banks, and their roles in financial and capital markets of Korea this study provides with a reason that regulators should give complex and multilateral attentions to foreign banks’ branches.